A Multnomah County judge today sentenced Patrick Fitzgerald Gurley to 7 years, 11 months in prison for beating to death a Portland man on Jan. 31, 2010.

Gurley, 46, last month pleaded no contest to second-degree manslaughter in the killing of Mark John Chambery.

Chambery, 49, was found dead after a motorist spotted his body at Northeast 32nd Avenue and Weidler Street, near the Hollywood neighborhood Fred Meyer store, and flagged down a Portland police car.

Two witnesses told investigators they saw Gurley stomp on Chambery's face, according to court documents.

The witnesses said they heard Gurley ask for a shovel. One man brought Gurley a shovel, thinking he wanted to bury Chambery. Witnesses said they saw Gurley drag Chambery toward the west end of a lot, where they first saw Chambery on his back and breathing.

Six hours later, the witness returned and discovered Chambery was dead, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in court. Gurley was arrested Feb. 15, 2010

Chambery died of trauma to his head, an autopsy found.

Today, the victim's family learned the stomping death may have occurred over a dispute involving Chambery's black border collie.

The victim's mother, Barbara Gabriel, who flew in from upstate New York, stood and addressed Gurley. She said she's thought of Gurley's name often. In court, she repeated the defendant's name, said it was a beautiful name and told him, "How you've desecrated it."

"The hurt and the tears shed by so many of us are beyond description," Gabriel said. ""Do you ever mourn for those who hurt, or even for yourself?"

She called his sentence a limited judgment for his offense, "since no one can bring our precious Mark back to us."

"He didn't deserve what he got, and what you did to him," the victim's mother said. "You will have to think about this, and may God have mercy on your soul, Mr. Patrick Fitzgerald Gurley."

"It just kills me the slow pain he must've went through to die," said Tina Wahlberg, Chambery's best friend who attended the sentencing this afternoon.

Under the plea agreement, Gurley also pleaded no contest to unlawful use
of a weapon from an unrelated 2009 case, and was sentenced to 25 months
for that.

Together with the manslaughter case, Judge Michale McShane sentenced Gurley today to a total of 10 years in prison.

Prosecutor Stacy Heyworth said the Chambery killing case posed
challenges to the state as witnesses were drunk at the time and gave
varying accounts of what occurred.

Chambery was born in Rochester, N.Y. He had owned and operated All Phase Roofing and Construction. His half-brother, Richard Gabriel, said Chambery loved to hike Larch Mountain, enjoyed riding his motorcycle and took his black border collie everywhere he went.

He also liked learning about the stars, and knew all the constellations.

"I cannot look at the stars anymore,'' Chambery's mother said. "Because he would talk all about them.''